Realistic Fly Tying

Tying realistic flies is just another branch of our hobby. Much more time consuming than "regular" fly tying but for me that's part of the fun.
You can spent hours and hours on one fly without doing the same thing twice.
It's definately not for everybody since you spent a lot of time on a fly you can't even fish with. It is a good way to learn about entomologie though.
Getting into details that much will teach you about the insects being immitated.

Classic Salmon Flies

Tying classic salmon flies is another great way of spending time tying flies. Lots of techniques and gentle manipulation of materials.
The downside is that a lot of these materials are hard to come by and can be very expensive.
Most of them can be substituted though which makes it accessable for evererybody.

Fly Tying Gear

Fly tying is a great hobby. Take it another step further and make the tools to tie your flies yourself. Great fun!
I have always made my own vises and fly tying tools which gives you a lot of freedom to get the tools the way you want them.
This goes especially for vises.
The vise on the left is built specifically for my realistic fly tying. The jaws can rotate in every direction to hold bended hooks in the right tying position.